


Ruby Red

by MissNMikaelson



Category: Rubinrot, The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-08-05 14:26:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16369301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissNMikaelson/pseuds/MissNMikaelson
Summary: It wasn't supposed to be Elena. She was supposed to lead a normal life, but one little white lie ruined everything. Her mother meant the best, but now she's completely unprepared for what's coming. Luckily he is well prepared, but did he have to be such a pompous ass? M for Safety.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own TVD, TO, or RUBINROT/RUBY RED  
> All rights belong to Julie Plec and Kerstin Gier respectively.

 

* * *

_1992_

* * *

The fear was paralyzing. It gripped her muscles and turned her body to stone. She couldn't stop shaking as the steps grew increasingly closer with every passing moment.

Luckily for her he was not so easily stopped. She had often envied the way he could remain calm even in the direst of situations, but she found she was immensely grateful for his calm exterior when grasped her hand.

"This way," he hoisted his heavy bag over his shoulder and pulled her down a narrow alley. "Quick!"

She ran as fast as she could but every step hurt. She was still weak and honestly should have been resting, but her only choice was to run.

"Hurry," he urged.

"They went that way!"

"They're catching up!" She glanced over her shoulder towards the voice and caught the briefest glimpse of a dark cloak when they rounded a corner.

He followed her gaze and swore before leading her through twisting alleys. He had been holding on to hope that they might get away, but that thought was quickly fading as they closed in.

"John?" She swallowed her fear.

They had emerged in a cobblestoned courtyard. The circular enclosure held a stone fountain where he knelt now to pull the device from the bag.

"We don't have a choice," she realized. Turning around she kept a lookout on the paths while he readied their escape.

"It's time," he grabbed her hand.

"I… I can't…"

"We have to," he held her hands.

"Give up now," a man raised a gun and took aim.

"She's so small," tears welled up in her eyes.

"She'll be safe," he whispered. Holding her tightly he slid his finger into the opening.

"She'll protect her," she whispered and wrapped her arm around the whirring device.

The bullet passed through thin air and embedded in the fountain that set in the center of the empty courtyard.

* * *

_1912_

* * *

When she opened her eyes the full moon illuminated the peaceful yard and the tears glittering on her cheeks. She watched him wrap the device in a cloth before sliding it into the backpack.

She shook off his hand and walked out of the courtyard as quickly as her legs would carry her. She needed to be alone. She needed a moment.

He sighed before shouldering the bag and running after her through the empty streets and into Hyde Park where she collapsed and burst into tears. It was honestly a wonder that she hadn't cried sooner.

She drew her knees to her chest and cried. Her sobs shook her shoulders as she rocked back and forth while drawing in shaking breaths to try and calm down.

The cries were like a stab to his heart. It pained him to see her in so much pain, but he knew she needed the time to cry; she needed the time to grieve. Rather than interrupt he took a seat on the fading wildflowers and watched the moon's reflection on the smooth surface of the water.

It was a while before she turned her tearstained face towards him and sniffled.

"Have tissues been invented yet?"

"No idea," he reached into his pocket, "but I can offer you a monogrammed handkerchief… dead right for the period."

"M. G." She blinked at the white material. "Did you steal this from Miranda?"

"Technically she gave it to me," he shrugged. "Don't worry you can blow your nose on it all you like."

* * *

_2009_

* * *

**_Living with my grandmother, Lady Petrova is no picnic. You'd think after seven years I'd be used to it, but I hate it._ **

**_I have to deal with attitudes from the nineteenth century. Heaven help me if I ever where a skirt an inch above the knee. Grandmother insists on me being attractive while still hiding those things that make me a 'desirable' woman. She wants me to be girly and where pretty frocks like Kat._ **

**_I'm not like Kat. I detest high heels, and puffy skirts. She can sit for hours with this demure little smile. It's so annoying._ **

**_Kat's my cousin and suffers from this genetic disorder that evidently runs in the family, but I've never seen anyone else suffering from it. Everyone else who had it evidently died long before I was born._ **

**_That rare defect makes her incredibly precious, and she doesn't hesitate to rub that little fact in everyone's faces._ **

**_She can't be… let's just say she's not like other kids. They've always made a huge secret out of it. Great aunt Jenna says that one day this disorder will allow Kat to 'travel through time', but she's always had a thing for the supernatural._ **

**_At least Mom and Jeremy try to be reasonably normal, but in this family that's practically impossible._ **

**_Then there's me. I'm known as the black sheep of the family. I think grandmother calls me that because of my tomboyish ways; which is her way of saying that I wear jeans and trainers instead of skirts._ **

She lifted her head from the leather bound journal when there was a sharp taping on the rail to see her little brother grinning down at her.

"Grandmother is about to send out a search party," he warned.

"Is that your way of telling me to come up from the cellar?" She closed her book and slid it into her bag. "I don't want to go upstairs," she pretended to pout, "it's so stuffy."

"Come on, Elena," Jeremy held his hands together in a pleading gesture, "don't make me deal with the family alone. You know mom is no help in these situations." He lifted his brows and smiled. "There'll be cake."

"Hmm," she stood and crossed her arms, "trying to bribe me with sweets? Do you really think I'm that easy, Jer?"

"It's chocolate," he chuckled when her eyes lit up. "Come on, it won't be that bad."

She pretended to consider it before accepting his arm and following him upstairs to Kat's birthday party.

She sighed when they reached the ballroom and surveyed the crowds of people milling about in my home. They were dressed up beautifully, but this was not what she would have considered a good birthday party. Kat was only seventeen, not seventy. What seventeen year old wanted a cocktail party?

"Elena," Lady Petrova gave her the sternest look she dared in public company, "there you are. Come along, child, we're having cake."

She released Jeremy's arm and walked towards her grandmother and cousin with a supressed sigh. Her irritation only grew when Kat gave her distressed jeans and long-sleeved t-shirt a disdainful look.

"Elena," she shook her head minutely, "you shouldn't try to compensate your ordinary looks with tacky clothing. You'll never get a date to the ball dressed like that."

She swallowed her ire and resisted the urge to point out that they shared many of the same features. They had the same dark hair; she straightened mine while Kat embraced the natural curls which she always thought to be a pain in the ass to deal with. They had the same brown eyes though she liked to believe that hers were more open than Kats and many of the same facial features but Kats were slightly more pointed than hers. She personally believed Kat looked like she would if someone threw her in the dryer on permanent press: pinched and pointed.

She would not stoop so low and criticize her appearance.

"Great party, Kat," she smiled tightly. "I can't imagine anything better."

"Elena," Grandmother snapped.

_Damn it, she caught my tone._

"Silence is a virtue," she grasped Elena's upper arm and spoke without moving her lips, "that a lady of your age should have mastered by now." She then proceeded to give her clothes the same look Kat had. "Didn't I send your mother enough money to buy decent clothes for this, dear?"

"Mom's right," Aunt Nadia nodded.

"Your birthday's tomorrow, isn't it?" Kat's smile was gloating as she passed her a plate with a large slice of chocolate cake; it was her favorite and Kat knew it. "Don't worry. There will be left-overs. It'd be a shame to throw everything away."

Elena was going to take her cake and leave, but Kats comment struck a nerve. She slammed the dish down on the table and turned around with the intention of leaving her cousin to her frilly party.

She froze when she saw the guy climbing the stairs into the ballroom. She was not one to spend my time staring at guys but this one was hot. He wore a suit with clean lines that perfectly fit his body. His short hair looked incredibly soft in comparison to the dark stubble along his jaw.

She couldn't take her eyes off him as he greeted her grandmother and hugged her cousin. Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered his name.

"Kol," Kat smiled without showing any teeth, "hi."

"Happy Birthday," his smile was warmer than Kat's.

"Thanks," she murmured and gave Elena a pointed look when she didn't say anything. It was the look that said stop being such a creep and get lost.

"Would you be so kind as to get us three glasses of champagne please?" The guy… Kol… smiled politely. It wasn't until she spoke that he saw her face and registered the family resemblance.

"Sure," Elena scoffed, "why not?" She turned around and immediately bumped into one of the actual wait staff that had been hired for the ridiculous party.

The tray crashed to the ground and sent sparkling liquid flying through the air where it splashed against his expensive suit. Elena closed her eyes and willed the mortification to go away, but unfortunately her family's reactions were not helping.

She fled the ballroom with their disapproving comments fading behind her. They got fainter as she climbed the stairs into the musician's gallery and curled into the dark corner.

Her journal was on her lap a moment later as she added to the entry she'd already started.

**_They all think I'm a complete moron, and unfortunately I sometimes think they're right._ **

She was still in the gallery when light footsteps announced the arrival of her best friend.

"Hey, Care," she sighed and leaned back against the balcony.

"Did you really spill champagne on a guy?" Caroline forwent the pleasantries. She rose up on her knees to peek over the ledge. "Is that him?" She nodded. "The… holy crap he's hot…"

"I don't even need to look," Elena laughed humorlessly. "He's the guy with Kat."

"I stand by my former statement," Caroline looked at her from the corner of her eyes, "that guy is smoking hot. I wouldn't mind that stubble scraping my skin," she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Ew," Elena rolled her eyes. She'd had those thoughts as well, but then he'd confused her for the help. She knew his type well; she'd grown up in a house full of them. They thought the hired help were worth less than the dirt on their shoes.

"Do you think they're together?" Caroline urged her up onto her feet.

Elena perched on the rail the way she used to do as a child. It was incredibly dangerous and if her grandmother were to look up and catch a glimpse of Elena and Caroline like this she would have had a fit, but Elena liked it; she could see the entire ballroom like this.

"I don't really care," she wrinkled her nose. "They deserve each other."

"Try not to judge someone based on their first comment to you, 'Lena," Caroline wrapped an arm around the brunette's shoulders. "First impressions aren't always right."

"Really?" Elena cocked an eyebrow. She scanned the ballroom before finding her grandmother making her way briskly towards Kat who had started to sway on her heels. "How about my dear sweet grandma?"

Caroline opened and closed her mouth a few times before conceding.

"She's the exception," Caroline shook her head. "Most people who look like they've got metal rods shoved up their butts usually have a wild side."

"If she's got one she's never shown it," Elena scoffed. "Then again," she tilted her head and mused, "Maybe she secretly rollerblades in the ballroom at midnight."

"With her strict ballet bun down and her shiny grey hair streaming behind her," Caroline giggled with Elena at the mental image. She composed herself when she saw the crowds being ushered out and the live-in butler passing an ugly white dress to Lady Petrova. "What are they doing?"

"I've no idea," Elena shook her head as Kat was helped into the gown. They raced down the stairs towards the floor to ceiling windows in time to see Kat stumbling into a cab with Aunt Nadia and Lady Petrova.

"Crazy," Caroline murmured with her nose to the glass. She turned towards her friend. "You're family has more secrets than the secret service and MI6 put together. This is better than a soap opera."

"Where are they taking Kat?" Elena asked Aunt Jenna who had pressed her own hands to the glass with the girls.

"The Temple," Jenna whispered conspiratorially, "the Order of the Count Saint-Germain."

"What kind of order?" Caroline spun to face the woman with an eager light in her eyes. "Is it a secret order?"

"Sure," Jenna nodded and gave a half-shrug. "They're a bunch of fanatical old windbags with hidden agendas who think they're incredibly important."

Elena looked out the window to the guy helping Kat into the vehicle. "How's he involved?"

"That's Kol Mikaelson," Jenna followed her gaze. "He has a problem much like your cousin's."

"So…" Elena's eyes narrowed as she watched them drive away, "… he's also got this extra special gene?"

Jenna nodded and moved to sit on the couch with the girls. "In the Mikaelson family the gene is passed down through the male line," she lifted a plate of chocolate cake and took a bite of the sweet delicacy, "in the Petrova family it's the female side."

"So what are they going to do with her at this 'order'? Caroline leaned forward onto her knees.

Jenna started as if just realizing that the blonde was there and that she had said far too much. She wasn't even supposed to know the things that she did, but she had picked it up over the years.

"That's not really any of our business," Jenna broke off a piece of cake.

"And it's not our problem," Miranda Gilbert stepped into the room. She passed a piece of cake to Caroline and Elena and kissed the top of her head. "Try the cake, sweetheart."

"It's delicious," Jeremy grinned around his own mouthful of chocolate.

* * *

Kat knelt on the floor in the vast hall. Her clothing was reminiscent of a nun's habit, but entirely in white with great wings on the cap that weighed her down. Which was just as well because it would not do for her to look in the eyes of any of these men; women were only allowed in the hall during monumental occasions, and only when they were certain members of her family.

"The Guardians of the Order have been working towards this moment for centuries. Now we are about to witness the last member of the circle of blood shine." The regal voice echoed over the polished wood as the hooded man intoned the line from an ancient poem. "Time is in flux. The Ruby marks the Alpha and the end is foretold."

She swallowed and stared at the floor as the men clapped their hands against the wooden arms of the chairs. Their gold signet rings made a metallic clicking sound that echoed in her head.

How could she tell them the dizzy spell had already passed? At least the headache remained.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the italicized bits. They come directly from the series of books written by Kerstin Gier and translated to English by Anthea Bell.

_Uncontrolled time travel usually announces itself a few minutes in advance, but sometimes hours or even days ahead. The symptoms are sensations of vertigo in the head, stomach, and/or legs. Many gene carriers also speak of a headache similar to migraine._

_The first journey back in time – also known as the initiation journey – takes place between the seventeenth and eighteenth years of the gene carrier's life._

FROM  _THE CHRONICLES OF THE GUARDIANS,_

VOLUME 2:  _GENERAL LAWS OF TIME TRAVEL_

* * *

Caroline clutched her lunch tray tightly in her hands and hurried to catch up with her best friend. The brunette had paused at the entrance to the cafeteria and was staring out into the crowd of uniformed students for a seat.

"Hey," Caroline whispered conspiratorially, "did you find out what happened with Kat at the Order?"

"They don't tell me anything," Elena shook her head. She immediately regretted the quick action when her stomach turned.

"Can you ask Jenna?" Caroline's voice rose to a more respectable volume.

"Not very reliable," Elena took a shallow breath. "Last week she said I was going to be queen of the ball, according to what she read in the stars," she laughed and took shaking steps into the cafeteria. "And this morning she read in her tea leaves that it…"

Elena trailed off as the room spun around her. "… that it would rain beans for me today…"

She and Caroline had ridden a roller coaster with insane twists and turns the previous summer. The moment she had stepped back on solid ground she had been convinced that she was still on the ride; her legs had trembled like a newborn colt.

There was no reason for that feeling now though. There was not a logical explanation for why her body felt like it was lurching in every which direction while her feet remained firmly in one place.

"Elena," Caroline tilted her head, "you okay?"

"I…" she stumbled suddenly and righted herself, but she wasn't fast enough to stop the baked beans from flying up and splattering over her blue uniform tie. "… not again," she groaned.

Elena's internal organs cringed when a table full of boys turned and snickered at her. Sad to say it was not an uncommon occurrence for her uniform to be ruined during lunch. Over the last few weeks alone her dessert had jumped across the table into Jeremy's spaghetti, and her smoothie had been knocked over spraying everyone that had been sitting at their lunch table with a frothy mixture of strawberries, bananas, blueberries and yogurt.

"Who can eat this stuff anyway?" Caroline picked up the plate from her tray. "Do you want mine too? You can cover your blouse." She grinned when the comment had the desired effect and caused Elena to smile.

"No thanks," Elena murmured. She seethed silently when Kat chose that moment to breeze past her.

"So embarrassing, Elena," Kat clucked. Her usual demure smile was present on her lips when she joined her clique of friends.

"Ignore her." Caroline wrapped her arm around Elena's shoulders and steered the brunette to an empty table.

Elena buttoned her blazer over the stain before sitting and eyeing the remaining food on her tray warily. The thought of eating anything made her feel queasy.

"You're staring at your mashed potatoes like they've personally offended you," Jeremy dropped onto the bench beside Elena. He tilted his head and scrutinized her suddenly pale features. "Are you okay?"

Elena exhaled slowly and closed her eyes before nodding.

"You sure," Bonnie joined them, "you look a little… white."

"I'm fine," Elena picked up her fork and dragged it through the mashed potatoes. "I just feel a little dizzy." She groaned when Jeremy snickered. "I know… I know. Don't laugh at me, Jer."

"What's so funny?" Bonnie looked between the Gilbert siblings.

"It's nothing, Bon," Elena's fork clattered against her tray, "there's just been a lot of talk about dizzy spells at our house lately."

Ever since Kat had returned from the Order all Aunt Nadia and Leady Petrova seemed capable of talking about were Kat's dizzy spells, or rather the lack there of. They asked every few minutes how Kat was feeling; they took it in shifts. When Lady Petrova was silent Aunt Nadia was asking.

Elena thought the fuss over her cousin was a bit much; it was enough to make her head hurt.

"Must be rubbing off on you," Bonnie teased.

"Maybe it's not just Kat," Caroline smirked. A wicked twinkle entered her eyes.

"Why don't we talk about something else?" Elena uncapped her water and sipped slowly to combat her nausea.

"Okay," Bonnie nodded. "I talked to Enzo, and he's got a stepbrother who might go to the ball with you. He's out of town though, so you'd have to cover his cost to get here."

Elena rolled her eyes and set her water down on the table. Her lips twisted in a grimace when she thought of the ball. The annual ball held by her prestigious private school. She had attended the previous year and spent the entire time around the outskirts adjusting the ridiculous straps that had simply refused to stay in place; the light blue silk had suffered an irreparable stain when she'd overturned a glass of punch.

"Elena?" Caroline cocked an eyebrow.

"I don't think I'm going," she answered her friend's unasked question.

"No," Bonnie groaned. "You have to go. I'll even blow off Enzo. It'll be a total girl's night."

"Oh yeah," Caroline leaned back in her seat and grinned. "We can do our nails in outrageous colours, apply outlandish makeup, and fix our hair in crazy styles. We'll be the queens of the ball."

"Aunt Jenna did say you'll be queen," Jeremy held up his fork with a flourish.

"Fat chance of that happening," Elena scoffed, "because I'm not going, and it's not because I don't have a date." She was only partially lying. "Bonnie doesn't have to blow off her boyfriend."

"Guess she'll just have to blow him," Caroline snickered.

Bonnie sputtered on her apple juice. The amber liquid sprayed from her mouth and splashed across Elena and Jeremy. Luckily the bell signifying the end of lunch saved her from having to respond.

* * *

"Elena!"

She gasped when hands yanked her back from the street. A sleek black car zoomed past them and through the spot where she had been standing. Muddy water splashed up soaking through her black tights and the hem of her blue plaid skirt.

"What the hell, 'Lena?" Jeremy steadied her when she swayed. He took the leather school bag from her shoulder and slung it over his. The weight seemed to be tipping her over.

"Are you crazy?" Kat turned her nose up. The water had soaked through her tights and into the soles of her heels.

"You're one to talk," Elena murmured. "You're the one with the genetic mutation." She let Jeremy steady here and followed Kat across the street towards the house.

"It's a gift, Cupcake," Kat's lips turned up into her signature secretive smile.

"It's connected to your birthday, right?" Jeremy shifted Elena's bag onto his other shoulder when she tried to take it back.

"Are you in any pain?" Elena crossed her arms and glared at her brother. She was perfectly capable of holding her own bag, but it was clear she wasn't getting it back any time soon so she turned her attention back to her cousin.

"Did they do experiments on you or something?" Jeremy smirked.

"What about that guy?" Elena cleared her throat and tried not to blush. "Was he with you?"

"Kol?" Kat looked back over her shoulder. "Naturally; Kol and I have trained for our roles for years… together." She gave Elena a pointed look and stepped into the foyer of the large house they called home.

"Well?" Nadia came around the corner and took her daughter's shoulder. "Say something, Katerina."

"I'm still here, as you can plainly see," Kat sighed as if this were the most inconvenient thing in the world.

"Are you dizzy?" Nadia peered into Kat's eyes. "They said that's how it starts. Elena… Jeremy, why don't you go to your rooms and play?" She called over her shoulder to the butler who brought out the ugly white dress.

Elena gave Jeremy a disbelieving look and turned towards the parlour where Aunt Jenna was knitting. They hadn't gone to their rooms to play in years.

"Come and sit with me," Jenna looked up from the scarf she was working on. "You'll provide a welcome distraction from my failed attempts at knitting."

Elena perched on the edge of the chaise and laughed with Jeremy when Jenna held up the scarf. Large gaping holes and massive knots seemed to hang ever few inches in the mustard yellow creation.

"I'm no expert," Jeremy dropped their schoolbags on the marble floors, "but I think you have to unroll the yarn first." He lifted the knotting skein of yarn.

"You might be right," Jenna nodded.

"Why are you knitting Aunt Jenna?" Elena held the arm of the couch that had turned into a river raft. She had never been white water rafting but it felt like she had been tossed on a log and was speeding down a rapidly flowing river.

"I thought I'd take up a hobby," Jenna's eyes twinkled. She looked through the arching door to Nadia and Kat; they were talking to in low voices. "What if we were to see Kat disappear into thin air?"

Elena stared after her cousin and aunt. They had descended the stairs with Lady Petrova on the way to the temple. When she turned her attention back to Jenna she saw that her aunt had started unfurling a skein of yarn; Jenna was wrapping it around Jeremy's hands that she had spaced six inches apart.

"Jenna," Elena reached into the white bag on the table for a hard candy, "why is everyone so sure it's Kat that inherited the gene?"

Jenna looked at Elena sideways and bit her lip.

"I'm not supposed to say," Jenna whispered, "your grandmother would kill me if I said anything at all." She looked around as if expecting Lady Petrova to appear from out of the woodwork. "But there was an astronomical occurrence that day when Charlotte was born. Mr. Newton envisioned the very date of her birth."

"Our mailman?" Jeremy looked up from the yarn around his hands.

"Isaac Newton, Jeremy," Jenna snickered, "the mathematician. Sometimes it's better not to know the truth you know…"

Elena blinked at her aunt. The room around her tilted and blurred until all she could see was the faintest outline of the woman. A buzzing sounded in her ears so she was only able to make out every other word Aunt Jenna was saying.

"… Order… time machine… underground… chronograph…"

She seemed to fade in and out for several moments; the words reaching her from underwater. Then all of a sudden it stopped and the room came into focus again.

"Darn," Jenna reached into the white bag on the table and came up empty handed, "we're out of candy. Would you run around to the store and get me some more?" She turned to Elena. "Would you do that, Elena?"

Elena startled when the warm hand settled on her arm.

"What?" She straightened her spine.

"Would you run around to the store and get some more candy?" Jenna held up the bag and shook it gently.

"Sure," Elena stood from the chaise and wobbled slightly.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Jeremy frowned.

"I want to go out," Elena nodded. "I want to go out… get some air."

"Why don't you wait a second?" He started trying to untangle his hands. "I'll go with you."

"Don't be silly," Elena shook her head, "you're busy. I'll go and get the candy."

She stumbled from the room and caught the concerned voice of Aunt Jenna when her hand connected with the doorknob. The door closed on Jeremy's quick footsteps.

Elena released the doorknob and started down the porch steps. She was on the last one when her stomach shifted. There was a pulling sensation deep in her body. It was like someone had attached a string to her belly button; the cord extended back through her body and was being used to yank her off her feet and through the air.

The street and the traffic vanished in a flash of red.

Her vision cleared a moment later. The unsteady feeling that had been present in her legs disappeared, but she was still knocked flat on her back.

Elena's elbow struck the stone steps of the house causing her to gasp loudly at the blinding pain radiating through her funny bone. Cradling the appendage to her stomach she looked up into the scoffing face of the man who had plowed into her without a second thought while the ache slowly subsided.

"No, no," she muttered under her breath, "That was entirely my fault."

The man gave no indication that he had heard her. He simply adjusted his hat and disappeared into the crowd rushing down the street.

_Who wears bowler hats anymore? And where did the crowd come from?_

She inhaled and grimaced at the foul stench. It smelt like the second floor of the school when the boys had clogged up one of the toilets only a thousand times worse.

A moment before there had been maybe three or four walkers on the sidewalk, and a plethora of cars. They were all gone now. Men and women in strange clothes rushed along the road.

A building she had never seen before stood proudly on the far corner where the pharmacy was supposed to be. The coffee shop across the street had vanished; a few feet from the door a boy stood and held up newspapers to passersby.

Dread twisted her stomach into knots. She looked both ways, as was her habit, before darting across the street. She had to pause and jump out of the path of a careening carriage drawn by two horses and driven by a man who was clearly crazy.

Once her heart dropped back into its cavity from the vicarious position in her throat she hurried the rest of the way across the rutted road that had been paved a moment before.

Her stomach shifted again when she reached the boy. Elena had just enough time to grab the paper from his hands when the string was pulled and she was swept off her feet in a second flash of red.

She gasped and bumped into a woman coming out of the coffee shop.

"I'm so sorry," the red head apologized profusely. Her iced coffee sloshed over Elena's blouse staining the last clean patch of cloth. "I didn't see you."

"It's okay," Elena held the back of a chair. "I've got to go."

She darted down the now empty sidewalk, sprinted across the bridge and ran until she was pushing open the door to the candy store. Elena didn't stop until she was in front of the hard candy Aunt Jenna was fond of. When she did it was to lift the newspaper.

The colour drained from her face when she read the date that made her heart plummet.

May 17, 1884

* * *

_All kinds of inanimate objects and materials can be transported through space in both directions without any problems. However, at the moment when an item is transported, it must not be in contact with anything or anyone, apart from the time traveler who is carrying it._

_The largest object so far moved through time was a refectory table twelve feet long, taken from the year 1805 by the Mikaelson twins in 1900 and back again (see Volume 4, Chapter 3, "Experiments and Empirical Investigations," pp. 188ff.). No plants or parts of plants, and no living creatures of any kind, can be transported, since time travel would destroy or entirely dissolve their cell structure, as many experiments on algae, various seedlings, slipper animalcules, woodlice, and mice have shown (again, see Volume 4, Chapter 3, "Experiments and Empirical Investigations," pp. 194ff.)._

_The transportation of any items, other than under supervision or for experimental purposes, is strictly forbidden._

FROM  _THE CHRONICLES OF THE GUARDIANS,_

_VOLUME 2: GENERAL LAWS OF TIME TRAVEL_


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the italicized bits. They come directly from the series of books written by Kerstin Gier and translated to English by Anthea Bell. I did make some changes to the line of descent in terms of names and a couple of dates.
> 
> I also do not own TVD or TO or Ruby Red
> 
> I know it's been awhile since I've updated anything. It's not for lack of inspiration, it's for lack of time to actually sit down and write.

_The Female Line of Descent_

_Elitsa Petrova_

**Opal**

_1562-1580_

_Daniela Petrova_

** Aquamarine **

_1628-1684_

_Amara Petrova_

**Citrine**

_1705-1775_

_Tatia Petrova_

**Jade**

_1877-1944_

_Isobel Petrova_

**Sapphire**

_1974_

_Elena Gilbert_

**Ruby**

_1992_

* * *

"It smelt terrible, Care," she spoke into the mobile and reached for Aunt Jenna's candy, "and everyone acted as if I didn't exist. I was nearly run over by a freaking horse drawn carriage. I swear I heard someone yell thief before I popped in front of the coffee shop."

"You really went to another time," Caroline stood up from her window seat and paced across her bedroom.

"That or I'm going crazy," Elena hurried to the counter and paid the cashier. The bell over the door dinged when she pushed outside. "Maybe I'm like those guys that say they were abducted by aliens in the desert. Next thing you know I'll be thinking they probed me." She held the paper bag to her chest and hurried onto the walking bridge. "I don't know what's worse, Care: thinking I'm crazy or actually traveling to another time."

Caroline sat at her desk and booted up her laptop. It was the fasted machine in the entire house, but still incredibly slow to start.

"You realize this means that you're the one with the gene, and that it's not Kat," Caroline opened her browser and started searching for anything to do with time travel.

Elena paused in the middle of the bridge and wracked her hand back through her lank hair; she hadn't showered that morning in the mad rush to get out the door so her long locks hung limply around her shoulders.

She could feel the heat of tears behind her ears. It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. She didn't know much about the gene, but she knew it had everything to do with a person's date of birth and she had been born on the wrong day.

"It's not me, Care," she sighed; she had no secrets from the peppy blonde. "It's got to be some kind of defect. Isaac Newton worked out the dates, and he's never wrong."

"Newton?" Caroline added the name to her search. "The guy with the apple and gravity," her eyes scanned the many things he had done on his Wikipedia page. "This guy had a lot going on: the laws of gravity, optics, quadratics, transcendence of all spirals… that sounds like the closest thing, right?"

Elena shook her head before realizing her friend couldn't see her. "Not really."

"You think Kol might also do this too?" Caroline leaned back in her desk chair. "You two can travel through time together. I can just picture you holding hands at the execution of Anne Boleyn, or the assassination of Lincoln. It's so romantic."

"This isn't funny," Elena said. Her insides were shaking violently. "I'm scared, Care."

"Where are you?" Caroline turned serious.

"On the bridge," Elena started moving again. It was hard to make any kind of headway with the crowd pressing around her; a group of five girls were practically walking arm in arm blocking the path.

"You've got to get off of there," Caroline's spine straightened. "If you were to suddenly travel again you could wind up in the river."

"It could happen again?" Elena was in real danger of crying now.

"Isn't that how the gene works?" Caroline tapped a few links on the computer. "You need to get off the bridge now. Go and talk to your mom."

Elena hung up the phone, elbowed her way through the line of girls and sprinted for home.

Several blocks away Caroline set her phone down. A line appeared between her brows as she leaned closer. Jenna's voice echoed in her mind: 'Count Saint-Germain'.

* * *

"Mom, it's…!" She shouldered open the heavy door and raced up the stairs into the sitting room.

Elena froze in her tracks under the arch leading to her grinning family. Her head spun as they all approached her with wide grins and plates of cake. Was it really her birthday? Had she truly forgotten? Everything had been all about Kat the last few weeks.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart," Miranda placed a plate of chocolate cake in her daughter's hand.

"Thanks…" Elena swallowed. She felt too warm; like she was going to burst into flames at any given moment.

Elena set down the plate and almost immediately felt a small velvet box as it was put in her palm. Needing to focus on anything other than the twisting sensation in her stomach she opened the lid.

"It's beautiful," she breathed. Her fingers traced the edges of the tiny key.

Miranda wrapped her arm around Elena's back in a hug and kissed her cheek. "It belonged to someone very special. It'll protect you."

* * *

Several hours later found Elena in her bedroom. She had tried to tell her mom, she really had, but she'd lost her nerve.

What was she supposed to say? 'Hey Mom, I know everyone thinks its Charlotte, but today I traveled to 1884'.

It sounded crazy in her head, and she knew it would be even worse when said aloud.

Her emotions were all over the place. She couldn't tell if her shaking organs were a result of Aunt Jenna's strange vision about her, a clock tower and raven chick hatching from a sapphire egg, or if it was because she was going to travel again.

_Rain pattered against the panes of glass. Lightening flashed illuminating the marble floors briefly with flickering shadows._

_"Aunt Jenna: what did you see?" Elena held Jenna's hands. She couldn't understand the icy chill that raced down her spine with her Aunt's words._

_"And…" Jenna hesitated. Her eyes flickered to Miranda sitting across the table with an impassive expression. "I saw Isobel."_

_An uneasy silence fell over the table. It was Jeremy who broke the growing tension with the question on Elena's mind._

_"Who's Isobel?"_

_Elena could have sworn she saw something race through her mom's eyes, but it was Jenna who answered._

_"Isobel is your cousin," Jenna inhaled slowly. "She ran away from home when she was 17." A smirk flickered over her lips. "Young, foolish and in love; she caused quite the scandal."_

_"And her name is no longer spoken in this house," Miranda cut in. Her tone made it clear that what had just transpired would remain between them; Lady Petrova would never hear of it._

She couldn't believe that she had a cousin she'd never met… actually Isobel had disappeared before she was born, or around the time she was born, so she could believe it, but it was strange that she had never even heard of her.

Elena rolled over and stood up on shaking legs. Slowly she made her way downstairs in search of a glass of water and answers that nobody had ever thought to give her. She could only think of one person who would have told her the truth if she were only to ask, but he had died when she was six; it had been a few months before her dad had passed.

Her stomach flipped when she reached the second floor landing. She stifled her groan and reached blindly for the nearby wall.

How had she felt right before?

A pulling sensation overtook her abdomen and turned her organs to liquid, and then mist before solidifying again.

She crashed unto the hardwood floors inside the study. The heels of her palm were scraped raw by the wood.

With her eyes squeezed tightly shut she took great heaving breaths and felt her heart pound in her chest; it leapt into her throat when strong hands gripped her under the arms.

Panic assailed her. What was going to happen now? Had she dropped into the middle of a family gathering sometime in the past? Did they think she was a thief? Were they going to call the cops? Where was she? Was she going to be thrown into a Victorian jail? She remembered from history class that they were deplorable.

One thing was for certain: she would never know if she didn't open her eyes.

A line appeared between her brows. Her heart surged with fear and a mixture of overwhelming joy. One of the two people she missed most in the world was kneeling in front of her.

"Grandpa?" She exhaled slowly and sat up.

"Elena," his eyes twinkled with amusement, "where did you come from? Nice pajamas."

She looked down at her purple fleece unicorn pajama pants; they were the ones she liked to wear when she felt sick. Had anyone else seen her choice of sleeping attire her cheeks would have flamed with embarrassment, but this was her grandfather; her dead grandfather.

"I…" She stood up and backed into the desk that her grandmother had removed from the study when she was eight years old. "You… you died when I was six."

The moment she said it she immediately regretted it; surely she wasn't meant to go around telling people when they were going to die.

"Yes," her grandfather's smile fell slightly, "that's not for a little while yet; it's only 1992." He gently took her elbow and pulled her down beside him on the chaise. "You and I are going to cross paths many times. Is this your first time travel, sweetheart?"

"My second," Elena shook her head that was beginning to ache. The tears she had fought to keep at bay welled in her eyes; she focused on the Christmas lights that twinkled on the tree in the corner. It would have been one of the first trees she would have seen, but she would have been too little to remember it. "Does it ever stop?"

"I'm afraid not," he sighed, "but now you must listen. We haven't got much time."

Elena swallowed. Her head snapped around sharply to stare at him; hadn't she just been wishing for him to provide her with answers?

"Every time traveller is a gem stone," he leaned forwards and spoke in a hushed whisper, "you are the ruby. All eyes are soon going to be focused on you; I've left you a message: you'll find it soon."

She could do nothing but nod; any response or questions she might have had were pushed to the back of her mind when rushed footsteps approached the door.

_"We must see Lord Petrova, at once!"_

"Hide," her grandfather pointed to the opposite side of the desk.

Elena scrambled on shaky legs and vanished beneath the polished wood of the desk; it was open on one side, but a panel concealed the seated person's legs from view. She had just managed to tuck her legs close to her chest when the door burst open and the sound of angry voices reached her ears.

Pressing her back to the wood she squeezed her eyes shut and listened.

"Your daughter Miranda, of all people, helped them," an angry male voice ranted. "The gene carriers Isobel and John have escaped with the stolen chronograph into the past."

"We were afraid of that," her grandfather's voice remained calm. It almost sounded like he had been expecting it, but maybe she was reading into things.

"How dare these traitors endanger our cause?" The angry man returned. "And why is the Petrova family involved in this again?"

"They mistrust you," Lord Petrova took a slow breath; "you shouldn't have lied to them."

Heavy footfalls began to approach her side of the desk. Elena curled in tighter and forced her eyes shut as the intense feeling of vertigo overtook her again. She only opened her eyes when she toppled over backwards onto the marble floor; the desk had disappeared from the room.

* * *

_The intervals between episodes of time travel differ from one gene carrier to another, unless they are controlled by the chronograph. While the observations of Count Saint-Germain led him to conclude that female gene carriers travel back considerably less often, and for shorter periods, than their male counterparts, our experiences to date does not allow us to confirm his findings._

_The duration of uncontrolled time travel episodes has been shown, since observations were first made, to vary from eight minutes, twelve seconds (the initiation journey of Timothy Mikaelson, 5 May 1892), to two hours, four minutes (Tatia Petrova, second journey, 22 March 1894)._

_The window of time travel provided by the chronograph is a minimum of thirty minutes, a maximum of four hours._

_It is not known whether uncontrolled visits to periods within a gene carrier's own lifetime have ever occurred. In his writings, Count Saint-Germain assumes that it is impossible because of the continuum (see Volume 3: Laws of the Continuum)._

_Moreover, the chronograph cannot be set to take gene carriers back to periods within their own lifetimes._

FROM  _THE CHRONICLES OF THE GUARDIANS,_

VOLUME 2:  _GENERAL LAWS OF TIME TRAVEL_


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the italicized bits. They come directly from the series of books written by Kerstin Gier and translated to English by Anthea Bell.
> 
> I also do not own TVD or TO or Ruby Red.

_There is still no sign of Isobel Petrova or John Mikaelson. The Order had heard rumors of their appearance in the north and as a member of the inner circle I was sent to confirm the validity of these claims._

_I found no evidence of the thieves._

_While I was in the area I paid a visit to Lord Petrova's younger daughter, Miranda Gilbert, whose daughter was unexpectedly born the day before yesterday. We are all delighted to record the birth of:_

_Elena Gilbert_

_5 lbs 6 oz., 18 in._

_Mother and child are doing well, in spite of an early delivery._

_Heartfelt congratulations are offered to our Grand Master on the birth of his fifth grandchild._

FROM  _THE ANNALS OF THE GUARDIANS_

_25 JUNE 1992_

REPORT: ALARIC SALTZMAN, INNER CIRCLE

* * *

"I hoped it wouldn't happen again. I hoped I was crazy, but then…" Elena leaned against the lockers. Her arms were crossed and she chose to stare at her shoes rather than the concerned look on her best friends face; she knew the look.

Caroline slammed her locker shut and fell into step with Elena.

She stumbled when Tyler Lockwood bumped into her. It wasn't enough that she was already dizzy everyone had to plow into her; he didn't even have the decency to turn around and apologize.

"I'm a freak, Care," she threw up her hands in exasperation. "A complete freak." From the corner of her eye she spotted Kat snickering at her outburst.

"Yeah," Caroline wrapped her arm around the brunette's shoulders, "and that's why I love you."

The gentle teasing brought a half-hearted smile to Elena's lips but it didn't last long. Her mind kept going back to the last time she had traveled. There was so much that didn't make sense.

"My grandfather…" Elena took a sharp left at the top of the stairs, "… he had to have known."

"What do you mean?" Caroline tilted her head and adjusted her bag.

"Last night," she dropped her voice to a hushed whisper, "I saw him in my house. He said it was 1992 and he knew my name; he knew it was me. And he didn't seem surprised at all." She looked around before reaching into the pocket of her blazer and extracting a small picture. She held it up for Caroline to see.

A pretty girl no older than them was standing with a handsome young man. They were dressed in formal clothes and smiling at the camera.

"This is my cousin: Isobel." Elena glanced around to make sure no one was watching; like Kat or Jeremy. She wouldn't have minded Jeremy seeing this, but she wasn't ready to tell him everything yet. "Isobel had the gene too, and she ran off with John Mikaelson. He also had the gene. The picture is from their school ball."

"Another one," Caroline squinted at the picture. "He doesn't look a thing like Kol."

"Could be a distant relative," Elena tucked her hair behind her ear. She'd barely gotten any sleep the night before so she hadn't had time to shower, as a result her hair held a thin layer of grime that made it look darker than normal.

"Hey, Elena," Aurora called from across the hall, "do you know what Kat's going to wear to the ball?"

"I think she's having a dress made," Elena murmured, "and I really don't care."

"You're not going right?" Aurora smiled sweetly. "Or did somebody actually ask you?"

"We're doing research there," Caroline crossed her arms and glared, "about stuck-up school girls…"

Elena caught on and smiled.

"… Who are caught between clichés and lust."

"You know Kat's going to be queen of the ball right?" Aurora started backing up.

"Mmhmm," Caroline nodded, "and you're as hollow as a chocolate Easter egg!" She took Elena's arm and steered the suddenly pale brunette away from the crowds of students; the sea of blue plaid moved in the opposite direction towards the classrooms.

Aurora's outraged cry came too late to register with the friends.

The school had been placed in a converted manor home that had once belonged to some wealthy family or other in the seventeenth century. That meant that there were several hidden rooms and secret passages. Most had been discovered by the students over the years; everyone knew about them and would use them whenever they wanted to skip class.

They walked past Damon's alcove and Elena took the time to smile politely. He often took it personally when she didn't acknowledge him. In his mind the school was not a school. Like every other ghost he refused to accept the fact that he had died. Elena had met him five years before when she first started at the school, but to Damon it seemed to only be a few days since he had been playing cards in his father's club and talking about horses. He seemed oblivious to the fact that Elena had grown several inches, gotten braces and then later had them removed. He even dismissed the fact that his father's house had been transformed into a school with running water, electricity and central heating. The only thing he ever seemed to notice was the uniform skirts that seemed to get shorter from year to year.

Caroline was currently directing Elena to the hidden nook near the history wing a couple of corridors away from Damon's alcove. The girls were forced to take shelter when a new wave of classmates rounded the corner.

"Alright," Caroline steered Elena around to stand behind a wide column, "I spent the whole night researching."

Elena's brows rose in surprise. It was rare for Caroline to get so involved in her research unless it was for the school paper. Then again she supposed her friend was approaching the situation as an investigative journalist; she was going to unearth the secrets of the secret service, or rather the Petrova and Mikaelson families.

"It's an amazing story," Caroline pulled a sparkly pink binder from her bag. "Award winning, I'd say. This Count that the order is named after," she flipped open the book and pointed to an oil painting of an old man. "He was either one really cool guy, or a total imposter."

"What do you mean?" Elena glanced over her shoulder. The chatter of the other students drifted away.

"They say he was immortal," Caroline wiggled her eyebrows. "He founded the Order in 1745."

"And what happens at the Order?" Elena rubbed her left elbow. There was no doubt in her mind that Caroline knew as much as anyone not involved could know. If the information existed her friend had dug it up.

"They act like they're out to save the world," Caroline shook her head and flipped through several articles that mentioned the Order.

"Sounds like a cliché film," Elena giggled, "the secret order who says they want to save the world, but they actually want to rule it."

"Like in a James Bond movie," Caroline laughed.

Elena nodded. In the back of her mind she realized it was starting to get late.

"I want to know what it has to do with me," she pursed her lips.

"It's clear Kat's not gonna tell you anything," Caroline slammed her binder shut and stashed it in her bag. "That means you'll have to get close to Kol; spy on him a little bit."

"How exactly am I supposed to do that?" Elena crossed her arms.

"You'll have to use your female charms," Caroline smirked and gave Elena a pointed look.

"Oh those," Elena blushed. She had never used her female charms in her life; according to her grandmother she didn't have any.

The five minute warning bell rang. The sound echoed through the halls and made Elena's stomach clench painfully.

"We're gonna get in trouble if we're late again," Caroline frowned. She started around the corner.

Elena was about to follow her when the clenching feeling shifted. Her entire body began to tremble as a tugging sensation started behind her naval.

"Not again," she dropped her bag and clutched her stomach.

"Seriously?" Caroline's eyes widened in disbelief. "Now?"

Elena's nod made her head spin. She barely registered Caroline gesturing her towards down the hall and only heard every few words the blonde said.

"Hide… bathroom… no… see… Elena?"

Caroline gasped when the brunette vanished into thin air. There was a pale flash of red that quickly vanished in time for Mr. Salvatore to round the corner. He bent at the waist and picked up the leather bag that had thudded to the floor.

"Was that Elena Gilbert?" He looked around for the brunette. "Where is she?"

"Mr. Salvatore, hello," Caroline swallowed and reached out for her friend's bag, "Elena…"

"What happened?" Mr. Salvatore cocked an eyebrow.

Caroline always hated it when teachers gave her that look. It was a knowing look; the look that said I know everything already so you had better not lie to me.

"She… um… she had to run to the bathroom," Caroline flashed a nervous smile. "She has this thing, and she… she was throwing up. I hear it's really contagious," she covered her mouth.

Reluctantly he handed the bag over to the normally bubbly blonde.

"Check on your friend and then get to class."

* * *

Elena tripped, but managed to right herself at the last moment before colliding with a suit of armour.

_I didn't fall over this time._

She almost wanted to do a little jig, but she refrained.

She took a moment to look around and examine her surroundings. She could hardly recognize the hall as belonging to her school.

The lockers, polished linoleum and brightly coloured displays were gone. The blank walls had been replaced with magnificent golden wallpaper that shimmered in the candlelight; hundreds of candles lined the halls. The linoleum had been replaced with gorgeous wooden floorboards; each one displayed an elaborate pattern.

Elena tipped her head back to gaze at the chandelier; candles were lit in the ornate fixture that swayed gently with the vibrations from the music and voices lifting up the stairs.

Everything, including her skin, was bathed in a soft golden light.

There were a lot of voices coming from downstairs.

She struggled to summon up the layout of the school in her head. There should have been a classroom door behind her, and in the room across Mr. West would be teaching math to the grade six or grade seven classes. The room next to that one was supposed to be a supply closet for the middle school equipment.

She tilted her head and considered the door. If she hid inside nobody would see her when she went back, but the room was usually kept locked. She would have to find a way to get back out and then explain how she had wound up in a locked room in the first place.

The supply room was definitely out of the question, but the other rooms were out of the question too. If she hid in one of them she would appear in front of a classroom full of kids and a teacher; that would be even harder to explain.

 _Maybe I could just stay here;_  Elena leaned against the brocade paper and looked around. Both times she had travelled back she had only been gone a few minutes, so she could go back at any time.

She rubbed her palms against her plaid skirt and waited for the familiar dizzy feeling to return.

Voices drifted up the stairs and glasses clinked as some sort of toast was made. The clinking was followed by the return of the violins.

 _I wonder if they're having a good time down there,_  she tilted her head towards the stairs,  _it sounds like it._

Maybe Damon was at the party, after all this was the time he had lived, or at least it looked like it. It was a shame she couldn't go and ask, but what could she say: 'hello, are you Damon Salvatore, the ghost that haunts my school?'

It was a shame she didn't know how he had died; then she could warn him. She couldn't tell him though. How did you explain to someone that they were dead, or that they would be dead, and that you knew them, or would know them after they were dead, but you still knew them now?

The more she thought about it the more confusing it became. Time travel was complicated.

Elena's head snapped around to the footsteps on the stairs. Somebody was coming up them: running up them. The blood drained from Elena's face as the first set of steps was followed by a second.

She swore to herself and started looking around again while wishing for just a few moments of peace and quiet. Would she ever get them again?

She bolted across the hall to the classroom that would one day hold the grade six math classes. It took her a minute to realize that she needed to push the handle of the door up and not down as she was attempting to do.

Slipping into the room she swallowed her groan when she looked around. The furniture was hardly conducive for hiding. Gilded legs and slim couches did not a hiding place make. There was nothing a human being could conceivably hide behind.

Her eyes lighted on the brightly coloured curtains; they hung from floor to ceiling. Arguably, it wasn't the best hiding place but she was running short on time. It seemed the running footsteps were coming straight towards her.

"Where do you think you're going?" It was a man chasing after the first person.

"Away from you," a woman spat back. Elena recognized the sound of a voice thick with tears.

She just slipped behind the fabric when the door opened and a woman came inside.

She was followed by a man; Elena could just make out their shadows behind the curtain.

 _Naturally,_  she rolled her eyes;  _of all the rooms they pick this one._

"Leave me alone," the girl's voice reached Elena. She could tell now that she was a girl; maybe sixteen or seventeen years old.

"I can't leave you alone," the man sighed. "Every time I do you do something impulsive."

"Go away!" The girl shrieked.

"No, I won't," the man stepped towards her. "I am sorry about what happened; I shouldn't have let it."

"But you did," she scoffed, "because you had eyes only for her!"

Elena covered her mouth when the man laughed a little.  _Bad move, dude._

"You're jealous."

Elena had to admit that there was something appealing in his amused voice.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?"

 _Great,_  Elena swallowed her sigh,  _a lover's quarrel. I'll be lucky to get out of this room at all. How do I explain my sudden appearance to Mr. West?_

She couldn't put too much thought into the problem though; the voices were oddly distracting. There was something almost familiar in them; a known cadence, a familiar note.

"The count will wonder where we are."

"Then he can send his Transylvanian friend looking for us," the girl huffed, "that's what your count can do. He's not even really a count. His title's as real as the rosy cheeks of that… what was her name again?" She released an angry little huff, a snort through her nose.

Elena's eyes grew round. She knew that sound; she knew that sound intimately. Her shaking hand reached up slowly to move the curtain a few inches to the side so she could peer around it and confirm her suspicions.

The girl was indeed a girl, but she was wearing an amazing dress of midnight blue and embroidered brocade; the skirt was so wide she would have struggled to get in and out of a normal doorway with it. Her snow white hair was piled into a mountain on top of her head with ringlets falling down around her shoulders: it was clearly a wig.

The man had white hair as well. It was held at the nape of his neck with a ribbon the same colour as her dress.

They both looked very young and very attractive; even though Elena could only see their profiles.

The man couldn't have been much older than her; he was still a teenager. He was a very attractive teenager; the perfect masculine profile.

In her desire to get a better look Elena leaned a little further out of her hiding space than she meant to.

"I've forgotten her name already," the boy laughed.

"Liar!" The girl spun away from him and stared at the flickering candles.

The boy sighed before his voice turned serious again. "The count is not responsible for his behaviour, but rest assured he will be reprimanded for it. You don't have to like the count, darling, you only have to respect him."

The girl snorted again, and again Elena found the sound familiar.

"I don't have to do anything."

 _She's strangely forward for the time,_  Elena's eyes narrowed. Weren't woman in this period supposed to be repressed, quiet and demure?

Before Elena could think too long on that fact the girl turned towards the window and her hiding spot; Elena's eyes grew round when she was staring into her own face. She just made out the hand gesture that said to hide and slipped back behind the curtain.

Her quick movement made the curtain sway.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" The girl said.

Elena shivered at the voice that sounded so similar to her own. Could it be her? How else could she explain such a likeness?

"At the window."

"I said it was nothing."

Elena's heart stuttered when the sharp sound of steel reached her ears. She had seen enough period drama's to know it was a sword being drawn.

"There could be somebody there listening to…"

Whatever the guy was about to say was cut off. Elena heard only a muffled cry of surprise before silence.

She held her breath before deciding to risk a second look.

The girl, Elena 2.0, had crashed her lips to the boy's and for a long moment he did nothing, but then he let go of his sword and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Elena saw her look alike close her eyes as she was drawn closer. The pleasant hum reached her hiding place behind the curtain.

It was an odd feeling: watching someone who might be here kissing somebody. The sight brought butterflies to Elena's stomach. The kind of butterflies that appeared right before a first kiss; she had felt those once.

Was the girl only kissing the guy to take his mind off of her? Was there a way to get around the couple without being spotted? Was that really her, or maybe her ancestor?

_Don't be silly, Elena, of course it's you. Who else would it be?_

She gasped when the fluttering in her stomach intensified and the kissing couple blurred. A moment later she found herself in an empty classroom.

Elena grasped the back of a desk chair and struggled to catch her breath. She could see Caroline in the corridor; she knew the moment the blonde spotted her because she came rushing into the classroom.

"Good choice," Caroline reached into her bag for her cell phone, "Mr. West has the middle school classes on a field trip today."

Elena couldn't find the words to tell Caroline it hadn't been her choice at all.

"I told Mr. Salvatore you were puking your guts up," Caroline pressed the phone into Elena's hand. "I think he wanted to kill me; he knew I was lying I just know it.

"There were two of me," Elena mumbled.

"What?" Caroline squinted and tilted her head.

"There were two of me, Care," she pointed to her own chest. "There was me, and then there was another me."

"You've got to call your mom," Caroline tapped the phone. "You can't keep going on like this, 'Lena. You've got to tell her; I'm sure she can help. Call her, okay?"

* * *

Elena held her knees and watched the cars zooming by on the street. Her eyes locked on every grey SUV that passed thinking it was her mom coming to pick her up.

"So," Caroline tucked her hair behind her ear, "you were in the past, and kissing some stranger at a ball? Do you remember what the guy looked like?"

Elena shook her head. She hadn't been too concerned after seeing her own face.

"I wasn't kissing him, it was the strange doppelganger."

"Who was you," Caroline sighed, "or will be you… man tenses are funny."

"Tell me about it," Elena sighed.

Caroline pursed her lips before getting back to business. "We're your eyes open or closed?"

"Caroline!"

"Just think about it," Caroline urged. It was better that Elena was thinking about something other than an impending jump through time. She didn't know much about time travel, but she figured worrying about moving through time might be a way to actually trigger moving through time. "Was it a first kiss, or a 'we've already done this kind of kiss'?"

"I…" Elena closed her eyes and thought back. There had been something in the way he had held her waist that made it seem like he was familiar with her.

"Elena," a sharp voice called from the pick-up lane, "come on. We have to go?"

Elena opened her eyes to see Miranda Gilbert beckoning to her from the car.

"Think about it and tell me later," Caroline passed Elena her book bag. "And let me know what happens."

Elena nodded before sprinting for the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Elena's birthday has been recorded wrong for a reason. According to the records of the Guardians she was born on June 23, but we'll get to the reason why in the next chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think so far. And if you've seen the movie or read the book and have an idea for a character let me know.
> 
> I was thinking of having Elijah and Finn as members of the Order. Klaus is still her but because he's a maternal half-brother he doesn't have any innate priviledges like his siblings.
> 
> Then I thought Rebekah would be Madame Rossini and Damon could take the role of James.
> 
> And for the Count I thought maybe Silas.


End file.
